The present invention relates to a sintered friction material containing copper alloy powder and a hard phase. This sintered friction material is suitable for use as a brake friction pad, particularly for a friction pad for a brake rotor made of titanium or titanium alloy.
Hitherto, copper series sintered alloy sliding members are known, and as one of them there has been proposed a copper series sintered alloy sliding member having a foundation of Sn--Cu series copper alloy in which the hard phases consist of at least one kind of iron series intermetallic compound selected from the group of FeMo, FeCr, FeTi, FeW, FeB dispersed uniformly (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. Hei 7-102335, for example). Such a customary copper alloy sintered pad for brakes has been used as a friction pad for a rotor made of cast iron, iron or stainless steel.
The brake pad for a rotor of cast iron, iron or stainless steel cannot be used for an untreated surface of a disk rotor of titanium or titanium alloy, because heat-resistance and abrasion-resistance are insufficient.